Children and young people's views will be front and centre in a major State Government initiative to redesign the residential care system.
CREATE Foundation, which supports young people with a care experience, together with the Department of Child Protection, co-hosted a youth summit in Adelaide just prior to Christmas focused on the residential care reforms.
A series of consultations with the department's network of local youth advisory groups and the Ministerial Youth Advisory Council will follow summit.
'Reimagining Residential Care' will put the spotlight on all aspects of residential care, from cultural supports offered to young people, to staffing, activities, life skills and preparation for leaving care.
It seeks to reimagine how residential care services could be delivered into the future to ensure they are more responsive and attuned to young people's individual needs.
Drawing on decades of expertise across the sector, the collaborative effort will focus on achieving the right balance of unique supports and services that cater for the evolving needs of children and young people, as well as their families.
When a child cannot remain safely in their family home, the department's first preference is to identify an appropriate family-based placement, ideally with members of the child's own family or familiar people, wherever possible.
While the majority of children and young people live in family-based placements, there remains a need for high-quality, therapeutic residential care that is flexible and adaptive to the individual needs of children and young people.
Alongside children and young people themselves, the involvement of other key sector stakeholders, such as child protection and family support peak bodies, interstate and international experts and those with direct experience of the system, will be pivotal in helping transform service delivery models to ensure they meet children and young people's needs into the future.
As put by Katrine Hildyard
Children and young people in our community are facing increasingly complex issues and sometimes heartbreaking circumstances. Reimagining how residential care is provided to them in ways that meet them where they are at into the future is critically important.
The best people to lead that conversation are the remarkable and courageous young people who live in residential care now – they know what is needed and what would make their lives better. I am really grateful to the young people that attended the summit that generously shared their experiences.
We are fortunate to have decades of practice learnings, data and research behind us, but most importantly to be hearing the voices and experiences of children and young people who will be at the centre, helping to steer this important reform
We have also heard from the sector that they're eager to be involved in conversations about how we might re-shape service models for residential care into the future to ensure they are tailored and flexible to young people's specific and evolving needs.
Residential care can be a challenging environment but is absolutely necessary for some children and young people, in certain circumstances.
Strategic collaboration with sector partners will also be vital in envisioning improved service delivery models that are innovative, sustainable and fit for purpose in the years to come.
As put by Imogen Edeson, CEO Create Foundation
Young people with lived experience of residential care will not only be heard at the summit — they will help shape a system that is safer, more inclusive and more responsive to the needs of children and young people.
The summit placed the voices of young people with experiences of residential care at the very centre of the re-imagining work, so that their insights can steer the directions of the re-design.
Young people bring unique insights into what works, what doesn't, and what would make things better.
They should be empowered as creative design partners in this re-imagining process, so that what gets designed truly meets their needs.
The summit was all about deepening the collaboration between young people and decision-makers – as genuine partners.
Together, we can deploy our collective expertise and assets for positive and sustainable change, because that's what happens when we create spaces to deeply listen to those who have lived experience.
As put by Melissa Gibson, CEO of Child and Family Focus SA
Child and Family Focus SA is committed to amplifying the voices of children and young people in residential care and today's announcement brings this to life in our state.
The agencies we represent have called for a co-design process that prioritises creating a safe, nurturing, and home-like environment that promotes healing and development for young people within a child-centred framework.
We welcome this important announcement and will be keen to work in partnership with the Minister and the Department in a co-design process that aims to improve the care for some of the most vulnerable young people in this state.
There is an urgent need across Australia to look at nurturing and effective models of residential care for children and young people who can't live at home.
The need to provide residential care will always be with us, and Child and Family Focus SA welcomes the Minister's announcement today as an important way for South Australia to design a better future together.
